Minasan, konbanwa! .... Also, since it's already been announced that Channel 18.2 in SoCal will be showing Kohaku this year, we here in NorCal have our fingers crossed that 26.2 will carry it as well....

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving -- mata ne! CK

Thanks CherKell! I hope your Turkey Day went well too!

With regard to Kohaku, I think it depends on whether it was TTV that used to carry it or FujiTV (the local entity, not to be confused of course with the Fuji Television Network, or Fujisankei Communications International). I remember that the two entities would share the NY's eve block of JTV programming with Kohaku ending at 11pm and the other showing a year-in-review news program, interrupted for a half hour by the "Yuku Toshi Kuru Toshi" temple bell-ringing coverage. And I'm afraid that second entity was TTV. And it is TTV which operates 26-2. Also note that the NHK World live feed that is on 26-2 does not carry Kohaku, only the NHK World "Premium"(aka TVJapan) does.

Now, my memory could be wrong about that and/or FujiTV will suddenly resume showing Kohaku this year, but I'm making plans to add TVJapan to my Comcast service again like last year... and continue it for one month again so I can also enjoy the first sumo tournament of the year (that REALLY made it all worth it for me!). The cost only turned out to be the regular monthly service (pro-rated to the exact number of days I had it) plus a service charge of something like $2 to turn it off (no service charge to turn it on). It did require already having the regular cable box, however (if you only have a DTA "Digital Transport Adapter" you're SOL!).

Well, I'm afraid Kohaku won't be on KTSF this year either. During Saturday's programming, Fuji TV ran ads for special programming on New Year's Day and there was no mention of NY's eve.

Also, on Friday during the "Morning Eye" program on KTSF's subchannel 26.2/cable 174, TTV ran ads for special programming for both NY's eve and day on 26.2/cable 174 (not on the main channel 26.1/cable 8), and there was no mention of Kohaku.

I think I was right that it was Fuji TV which used to show Kohaku on NY's eve, followed by TTV showing a news program and Yuku Toshi Kuru Toshi (coverage of temple bell-ringing throughout Japan).

Now, it might be possible that during TTV's Sunday evening programming on the main 26.1/cable 8 they might announce that they will show Kohaku, but I doubt it.

Fortunately BTW, all three movies will be subtitled in English. Unfortunately for me, I already saw "Happily Ever After" and "Maiko Haaaan!" at the Viz Cinema last year, but they were both very funny comedies and I do recommend them!

Yowza! NHK must be really pissed off at KTSF. No Taiga and no Kohaku for a second straight year.

I don't think that's the reason at all. I believe it is just a matter of finances (low viewership... translating into less advertizing revenue for them). I think that was the main reason TTV, and later Fuji TV, gave when they dropped most of the subtitled doramas (too expensive). Also, I heard the Fuji Television Network stopped authorizing their doramas to be subtitled by entities such as JN Productions and Golden Nippon Network in the late 90's. The non-subtitled programming which survived on Fujisankei/FCI must be too expensive for TTV to carry any more than those 9:30pm Sunday doramas (no more Heyx3, Moshimo Tours, etc.). I think the subtitled series that FujiTV shows on Saturdays is from TBS and must be cheap enough for them to manage it.

But even programs from NHK cost them money to rebroadcast. I would imagine the rights to rebroadcast Kohaku is steep, and most of their core viewership (expat Japanese) subscribe to TV Japan anyway.

BTW, I think it must be relatively inexpensive for TTV to carry that live feed of NHK World, as well as to sponsor that whole KTSF subchannel, but I've noticed they probably can't sell any CM time during the NHK World programming itself. And that's why they carry those half hour infomercials and show that Morning Eye news program twice a day, with abundant CM breaks.

I'm hoping TTV starts making enough money from those infomercials to start carrying the whole Fujisankei weekend programming (which used to be carried here on the now defunct AZN/previously Int'l Channel, and for a short while on the now defunct ImaginAsian channel) on 26-2 and then show NHK World for the rest of the time. I can dream, can't I?

I agree! Definitely major "girlfriend" material! Shery Ahn and Kanako Sachno are close seconds, however. But in the non-newsanchor category, I'm completely enchanted by Tomoko Kimura, who does the promos for upcoming shows of the week.

^ There was also Michelle Yamamoto, but I don't know where she disappeared to.

I think I saw her once in one of the other programs, but I don't think she's been a newscaster since we've been getting NHK World here on KTSF: for a few weeks in late 2009 and continuously since April 2010.

If you're really curious about what happened to her... and can read Nihongo, I found that she's on Twitter and has a blog on Yahoo Japan.

I wonder how many of us are here because we adore Japanese babes?
(He asked knowingly...)

Actually, that doesn't describe me. My interest in J-TV and J-culture in general is because I'm half-Japanese and lived in Japan for a few years during my childhood (unfortunately never became fluent in Nihongo!). So, naturally I find some J-women attractive, but I do also like women of other ethnicities, Asian and non-Asian.

But I think we've gotten a little off-topic. Let's not stray too far from what we all have in common here: interest in the J-TV on KTSF. "Gomen" to CherKell, Wintersweet, and other female posters and lurkers on this thread for our silly sexist comments!

In case anyone used (and depended on) the info I gave a couple of weeks ago about the special New Year's programming on KTSF's subchannel 26.2/cable 174: Sorry about not giving an update for the time for "Yuku Toshi Kuru Toshi"!!!!!

Actually, I hadn't noticed it myself, but sometime in the past two weeks, they changed the time from 11:45pm on 12/31, when they used to air it on the regular channel 26.1, to 6:45am! Apparently, NHK World carried it live, and it was a version with an English voiceover.... as opposed to TVJapan that carried the regular Japanese version and was NOT a live broadcast!

Although I was watching, and recording, the 4.5hr Kohaku on TVJapan starting from 6am, my other DVR happened to record Yuku Toshi Kuru Toshi on 26.2, since it's set to record the usual NHK World block between 6am to 11am. One of the advantages of having two DVRs!

Shinnen akemashite omedetoh, minasan!

PS: For those who may be waiting patiently for the current "We Love Quintuplets" on KTSF to end: Last Saturday was episode #25, only 10 weeks more to go in the 35-episode series!

Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu, minasan! I've been offine due to work constraints, so it's good to be back amongst the living. Hope everyone's Christmas and New Year's were merry and bright!

No offense taken, Andru-san and Itazura-san. I like being part of the discussions here -- men, women, furries -- and not being judged about my crush on Asano-kun.

I feebly attempted to log on to Keyhole TV from 3 AM on Thursday to watch Kohaku, but the NHK feed was blocked!! Farging bastages! So I will just sit on my hands and wait for a kind person to post the torrent on D-Addicts. Until then, there's a few snippets on YouTube to keep me happy.

Yay for the Quintuplets dorama almost finishing! I find myself lunging for the remote when the Miho character opens her mouth -- what a whiny little brat! Here's hoping that the next offering is more palatable...

Starting from 8 January on the Chopped-Up Movie Hit Parade will be "W no higeki" ("W's Tragedy"). From 1984, directed by Shinichirō Sawai (previously known for "Memories of You"), and based on the novel by Shizuko Natsuki, this movie and its cast won a buttload of awards at various Japanese film festivals. Lots of famous faces in this one, especially Yakushimaru Hiroko, who we just saw as Tomoe (the Mom) in "Always - Sunset on Third Street." According to IMDB.com: "The plot involves a number of college-age drama students auditioning for a part in a play, where they will act together with famous professionals. It is a career-making chance, and one girl nearly gets the coveted part, but soon stumbles upon a chance to snatch the part away from another by compromising her principles a bit ." The preview after "Fireflies" tonight looked really creepy, so I'm looking forward to watching this one for a change...

Starting from 8 January on the Chopped-Up Movie Hit Parade will be "W no higeki" ("W's Tragedy"). From 1984, directed by Shinichirō Sawai (previously known for "Memories of You"), and based on the novel by Shizuko Natsuki, this movie and its cast won a buttload of awards at various Japanese film festivals. Lots of famous faces in this one, especially Yakushimaru Hiroko, who we just saw as Tomoe (the Mom) in "Always - Sunset on Third Street." According to IMDB.com: "The plot involves a number of college-age drama students auditioning for a part in a play, where they will act together with famous professionals. It is a career-making chance, and one girl nearly gets the coveted part, but soon stumbles upon a chance to snatch the part away from another by compromising her principles a bit ." The preview after "Fireflies" tonight looked really creepy, so I'm looking forward to watching this one for a change... CK

I finally watched the first two parts of "Tragedy of W" and turned out it was not the one of a similar title from 1984 that you found, CherKell. Actually, I knew it couldn't be from 1984, when I recognized a few familiar faces in the preview, primarily Kanno Miho, one of my favorite J-actresses, who would have only been a child in 1984. So I initially figured it must have been a remake. But the plot of this TV movie from 2010 is NOTHING like the one from 1984! This link has a synopsis:

And now that I've seen the first two parts, I kinda wish it WAS a remake of the one from 1984 instead, because so far it is not very good! I'm hoping when "Kinpachi Sensei" finally shows up to solve the "whodunnit" maybe he'll save the show!

Meanwhile, I'm hoping that things will finally get more interesting on the "Quints" when it is revealed that "Papa" actually has been cheating with that young hussy teacher and he decides to run off with her, tired of dealing with perfect wife Momoko and all those bratty teenage kids of his... including whiny Miho, who apparently just wants to grow up to be a gold-digger! Miss Goody-two-shoes Norika sometimes gets on my nerves too! But most irritating to me is that punky son Tsuyoshi who'll probably end up in jail someday! OK, well I guess I'm missing seeing a really juicy Fuji Television dorama!

BTW, keeping up with changes in the J-TV schedule on KTSF, I noticed a change that happened a couple of weeks ago:

On Sundays, "Hello Restaurant" and "3-Minute Cooking" have been moved to the 26-2 subchannel/cable 174, and TTV is promoting something called the "Japanese Food Happy Hour," grouping those two shows with the NHK World program "Your Japanese Kitchen," which they follow, at 4:30pm and 8:30pm.

And that means on the main channel 26-1/cable 8, the J-TV programming line-up has been shortened by another half-hour, now only running from 9pm to 10:30pm. They're still showing the half-hour NHK News7 but now head straight into the weekly dorama from Fujisankei/FCI.

At this rate, TTV may disappear completely from the main KTSF channel. But, as I expressed before, I'm hoping TTV will increase the programming from Fujisankei on 26-2/174 and we'll see a return of shows like "Hey, Hey, Hey Music Champ," "Japonica Logos," and "Ainori."